Kenya’s social and child protection system put under gender lens

Genesis was contracted by UNICEF to conduct a gender assessment of selected social protection and child protection interventions and systems in Kenya.

The scope of the work included an evaluation of the social protection and child protection workforce, as well as case management systems. It also comprised two in-depth case studies, one in Garissa and another in Turkana.

The project focused on the programmes under Inua Jamii: the Cash Transfer for Orphans and Vulnerable Children, the Older Persons Cash Transfer, the Persons with Severe Disability Cash Transfer, and the Hunger Safety Nets Programme.

In Turkana and Garissa, the study mapped social protection interventions more broadly. These interventions covered social assistance, social insurance, and labour and jobs, as well as the social services workforce in those counties. 

The study assessed the gender responsiveness of these interventions and systems. To do so it used UNICEF’s gender-responsive age-sensitive social protection framework, which ranges from gender discriminatory to gender transformative. Finally, the study offered actionable recommendations aimed at moving these interventions and systems towards a gender-transformative system.

Building on the findings of the Genesis study, it’s important to consider the broader socio-economic context in Kenya. The country’s economy has made significant progress recently, with a per capita GDP of $2,190, leading the East African region. Kenya’s GDP growth rate of 4.8% makes it one of Africa's fastest-growing economies. With a population of 54 million, nearly 23 million (46%) are children aged 0-17. Despite rapid population growth, falling fertility rates suggest that the number of children will remain stable, reducing the dependency ratio as the working-age population increases.

Kenya has expanded its social assistance system significantly through the Inua Jamii cash transfer programmes, including support for orphans, the elderly, people with severe disabilities, and those affected by hunger. The government aims to extend this programme to 2.5 million recipients by 2026 and enrol 500,000 new recipients in FY 2023/2024.

Poverty rates, which had declined, spiked during the Covid-19 pandemic and remain high. Over 9 million children were in monetary poverty in 2021, and nearly 7 million faced food poverty. Multidimensional poverty affects 12 million children, particularly in rural and arid regions. This is due to factors such as shocks, orphanhood, large households and low household education levels.

Gender inequality is a significant issue in Kenya. Despite progress, women face higher poverty rates and fare worse in literacy, education and labour force participation. They are also more likely to experience vulnerable employment and violence. These conditions underscore the importance of social and child protection systems for women.